Protools 8 New look, old look! Discussion

[Ale]

Well.

Please write here only your opinion regarding the new look


First me:

I am really frustrated.

I do postproduction and so have to do heavy and longterm edits.
I work very quick but........

After a few minutes working wit PT8 my eyes started to get tired.
They started burning and now after 2 hours working i stopped and started to write this post.


I really do not like the new interface.

- It is much to dark.

- Even when set the brightness to maximum the things are hard to read.

- Contrast is low and makes things hard to read

- Waveforms are much to dark especially when selected.

- Some popup windows have dark grey background and white text. Does anyone like dark websites with white small text? Do you remeber the rumour when the new duc started in a dark design?

- In the black air plugins it is hard to see what is adjusted. You have to look very long at the knobs to see what is adjusted. Look at the old plugins that still look the same. Here you see immediately what is going on

- volume curves laying over the waveforms are hard to see, especially when the waveforms are selected and get very dark.

- volume curves are a way to thin

- interface looks flat and has no dimension I cannot explain it in english

- When set the saturation to low to get the interface more brighter you can hardly see when an insert has made inactive


During the time i wrote this post my eyes feel much better now.
Here on the duc my eyes relaxed.


Believe me: I can not work with this new interface
I really lost my speed and I have the feeling that this user interface will give me long term problems.

Please give us back the opinion to switch back to the old look or at least do a dramatical improvement.

I could not believe that someone really can work 12 Hours a day with this interface.

I will get back to 7.4.
I hope very much that there will be a solution for this problem
I do not believe that I am alone.


Thanks for reading

Ale

[nfinite2006]

i disagree.

[gives]

Are you in a well lite room or darker room? I have found that a darker room makes the screen harder on the eyes.. Cinema screen or other for viewing? Good luck!
G

[Ale]

i work in a light room and got two apple 20 inch cinema displays

[sleadley]

The new interface does indeed take some getting used to but I would suggest you stick with it. It has grown on me and I now find the old PT interface to bright and contrasty. It really is an improvement. I work with PT up to 17 hrs a day and I find the new interface far superior and less hard on the eyes. I often brighten up the interface with the brightness control in the colors palette to give it more contrast, but I find myself doing it less and less.
my 2c
Simon L.

[Premo]

Sorry you don't like it. If you're only doing post and don't really need the new features maybe you should stick to PT 7.4.2? Most new features are Music realated anyways. and the scoring capabilities are pretty lacking and pro studio would still need a real copy of Sibelius. There are many pro studios and post houses that I've seen still using 6.4 or very old versions of PT. If you're just editing and mixing you don't really need the latest and greatest sometimes.

I hate to say it but the general consensus of all the Digi beta testers and public loved the new look. And Logic users also obviously love the dark look. Changing a GUI is always risky but Digi hung in there with that old school bright GUI for a long time and I feel this was long over due. Been using PT since 96' and after spending a few days with PT 8 I like it. But I was on your side the very first day or two and it took some time to get over myself hating change. Some people just dont want to change, its a comfort thing.

I have a very hard time understanding how a darker GUI and MUCH more legiable font is "harder to read and look at" But I do think the scroll bars being dark sucks. They should be a brighter color for sure. And I definitely agree with you that it's FLAT looking. Too flat.

I agree with most points on this Sound on Sound Review - I feel like these guys are usually fair and unbiased. But I'm sure theres no mag out there completely unbiased. Maybe Tape Op? dunno. Here's a small section from their magazine for other to read:

"
Overall, the new user interface is definitely welcome in Pro Tools 8. It's pleasant to look at, and, more importantly, offers better contrast and clarity when compared to previous versions. Existing users will need a few moments to reorient themselves, but on the whole I think both these users and newcomers alike will consider the new interface an improvement.
I do have a couple of minor criticisms, though. Firstly, I really don't like the dark nature of the scroll bars, which results in a 'dark grey against light grey' appearance. It definitely isn't as clear as it used to be, and I think this is especially noticeable for Mac users: previous versions of Pro Tools used OS X's bright-blue scroll bars that stand out so well.
Secondly, and of much less concern, it does seem a shame that some parts of the application got left behind in the streamlining process of the new user interface. While all of the main areas of working with a Session are covered, most of the configuration windows still have the old, somewhat-like-the-host-OS look to them, such as the Preferences, Peripherals and I/O Setup windows, or even simple things like the track naming window. I know it's picky, but a new Preferences window that helps you find obscure options you know are in there somewhere (much like Leopard's System Preferences window) would really be nice. And I do think extending the new visual appearance to all windows would help keep you in the 'I'm using Pro Tools' mindset, without being reminded of the past."

"
Once you have a Session open, you'll see that Digidesign have significantly changed the application's user interface, opting for the 'dark is the new light' colour scheme preferred in so many professional software products. Digidesign claim this new colour scheme is easier on the eyes when working for long periods. I'm sure that's little comfort to engineers who still have to actually stay up late and work but, joking aside, the new design is definitely more aesthetically pleasing than the last significant change to Pro Tools' appearance in version 6.
But it's not just the colour scheme that's changed; Digidesign have given Pro Tools a fresh, modern, and slightly flatter appearance, with redesigned icons and an updated visual vocabulary. The Edit window, in particular, has spruced up nicely, and although its basic layout remains largely the same, there's obviously been a great deal of polishing to make things clearer and easier for users. For example, the toolbar immediately stands out as looking different, but also offers many functional improvements (see 'Tools In The Bar' box) while keeping the same basic operation, and this ethos applies to most parts of the redesign.
An Edit window menu, accessible from a button at the top right of the toolbar, allows you to configure the various elements that can be made visible: as before, you can hide and show the Track and Region Lists, but the Universe view has also been incorporated as an optional part of the Edit window. I think this is a great idea, and I doubt anyone will miss having the Universe, if you'll excuse the expression, in a separate window.
The Rulers area has also been improved, and the entire length of whichever ruler is the Primary Counter is now highlighted, making it much more readable on a larger display. However, not every visual change to the rulers is so useful. Many of the ruler colours have unhelpfully changed from Pro Tools 7, with the Meter ruler becoming blue instead of green, and the Marker ruler grey instead of blue, for example. They have also become quite dark, and as such, less readable when working with the expanded views.
The Track List, on the other hand, is better in every respect. Again, it's visually clearer, and highlights one of the main improvements that applies throughout Pro Tools 8: how much more readable text has become with proper anti-aliasing. Staying with the theme of clarity, the separation between tracks in the list has become much more distinct, thanks to the fact that the track's colour strip has round corners and the contrast between the Track List's background and the track's foreground is more pronounced.
Perhaps the feature that will have Pro Tools users dancing in the street, however, is that rather than only being able to see and edit a single type of data on a track at a time, tracks in the Edit window now offer automation lanes, making it possible to work with multiple automation parameters — and even playlists — simultaneously. This capability is implemented in a similar way to many competing products, with a new Show/Hide Automation Lane(s) button at the bottom of each track's colour strip. Clicking this reveals or conceals automation lanes beneath that particular track. These work in exactly the same way as editing automation events on the track lane itself — which you can still do, of course — and each automation lane you add offers a button for adding another."

[25ghosts]

trust me, the pt8 interface i going to lengthen the life of your eyes.

If your eyes relax when you look at the DUC then you are accustomed to MUCH too bright atmospheres.

The most stupid thing interface designers ever did was to light up a WHOLE screen to print an "OK" in black.

There is a lot to designing an interface and it is way harder than you thing.

I can look at this new interface 4x longer than the old interface without having to put on my glasses.

[twix]

I too would like a few more options in regard to certain contrasts. My eyes seemed to get tired faster. The background seems a bit too dark and the grid lines are too light. I would love a slider to adjust those things.

[roberts]

I cannot stand the new screen. I want (need) a preference to go back to classic colors. PLEASE!

[Kenny Gioia]

I must say, I'm with the original poster. Not so much because it bothers my eyes. More so because I can't use colors anymore. They all look too dark and therefore pretty similar to each other. I played with the options for hours and the only thing I like is light grey with almost no color.

I just don't see why we can't have a full palette of colors to choose from. My display lets me view millions of them. PT8? Not so much.

There's pages and pages of feature requests (most of them small but incredibly useful) on the DUC that went completely ignored in this new version and I can't recall anyone asking for a GUI overhaul.